Islamabad:As the International Cricket Council's (ICC) Anti-CorruptionUnit's (ACU) letters continued to rock the cricket establishment, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said the allegations pertaining to match-fixing against some of the national players were a matter of concern and the issue would be looked into.

"We are in touch with the ICC on many issues and we view this issue seriously. When I get back to the Board office tomorrow (Friday) I will look into it further," Khan was quoted as saying by the daily 'The News' on Thursday.

Meanwhile, former PCB chief Tauqir Zia sought to defend his stand of not taking any action against some players despite a warning by the Anti-Corruption Unit that they could have under-performed in a few matches.

Confirming that the ACU director Lord Condon had voiced concern about some Pakistan players based on their intelligence reports in its correspondence last year, Zia, who resigned as the PCB chairman in December 2003, said the Board had been hampered due to lack of evidence.

"Yes, the ACU did write to us... But on what basis could we take action? We had our doubts also. We also heard about things. Since no evidence was available, no action was taken," Zia was quoted as saying in the same newspaper.

Zia said the PCB had even conducted its own inquiry but did not find any evidence against the players.

In fact, he said, the correspondence with ACU was a part of PCB's efforts to remain informed about the team and also to support the ICC's efforts to eliminate corruption from the game.